Ex-Prince Winter
Winter is a young IceWing prince and the nephew of Queen Glacier, first appearing in Moon Rising as a student at Jade Mountain Academy. He attends the school as a member of the Jade Winglet, in the IceWing spot. He is the main protagonist of Winter Turning, the seventh book in the Wings of Fire series. Winter kept a scavenger named Bandit in a cage that he decorated and made himself for all of Moon Rising. During the beginning of Winter Turning, he released Bandit into the wild, knowing that the scavenger would perish in the cold temperatures of the Ice Kingdom if he brought him back home. Kinkajou may have a crush on him. She has thoughts describing him as "sparkly" in Moon Rising. He has romantic feelings for Moonwatcher, although he doesn't want to admit it, knowing his parents wouldn't appove it. This is because not only have NightWings and IceWings have hated each other intensely ever since Foeslayer of the NightWings supposedly "stole" the IceWings' last animus dragon, a member of the royal IceWing family, Prince Arctic, but also because IceWings don't seem to actually like the other tribes. In the end of Winter Turning, this was revealed to be a lie that Queen Diamond made in her anger. Like all IceWings, Winter has always hated NightWings, until he met Moonwatcher. He wanted to hate Moon, but he can never seem to bring himself to do it due to his feelings for her. Biography ''Moon Rising Winter went to the Jade Mountain Academy with his sister, Icicle. He first approaches Moonwatcher when threatening to slice off her face after she has caught his pet scavenger, thinking she was going to eat him, like most dragons would. Qibli soon pops in to negotiate, and makes sure no one's face gets sliced off. Later in the story, Moon warns Winter about the explosion in the history cave, but Winter threatens to tell everyone that Moon caused the explosion unless she could tell him how she knew the explosion would take place. He then was very surprised when Icicle told him that his brother, Hailstorm, is alive. He seems to not understand Moon because sometimes he appears to find her interesting and kind, yet sometimes thinks she is "like all other NightWings", especially after Moon's confession to mind-reading, when he thinks she's always been mysterious and untrustworthy, because "a NightWing's a NightWing". He hates the NightWings even more now after they killed all the IceWing prisoners of Queen Scarlet, including (as he mistakenly believes) his brother Hailstorm. He is constantly comparing himself to his brother, this tells us that he looks up to Hailstorm. Moonwatcher mentions that he hates himself more than anyone else. ''Winter Turning '' In the prologue, Hailstorm took Winter out to the Sky Kingdom to find a scavenger den so he could get a pet scavenger saying they were going to satisfy the crazy obsession of his. When the brothers are confronted by fourteen SkyWings, Hailstorm negotiates and tells them to let Winter go and take him instead, since Winter couldn't fight for anything and is worthless. Winter tries to protest but Hailstorm tells him to leave, that he is being a 'mewling RainWing'. The SkyWings tell Winter they will be 'more merciful' than Hailstorm and let him go, so Winter guiltily escapes. At the end, we see Hailstorm's guilt at hurting Winter, and relief that his brother (whom he says is NOT useless, but that his current ranking would make him not worth rescuing) has escaped. We also see Winter wondering if that's what Hailstorm really thought, and his guilt at leaving his brother. After Moon told Winter about her powers, Winter believed that she was "just like any other NightWing" and didn't trust her anymore, scared about what she had seen in his head. He's afraid that being seen next to a NightWing could result in him being exiled for the rest of his life or kept in the seventh circle. He plans to find Icicle, then somehow ditch the other dragonets and get to the Ice Kingdom. However, the other dragonets find him when he is about to depart and convince him to travel with them. They get to the Rainforest Kingdom and Winter is disgusted by all the fruit and warmth and colours and noise, ("What self-respecting bird would need to have red, yellow, blue, ''and ''green feathers?"). He sees a sloth and tries to eat it, but in doing so he gets slammed in the side by a tail and sees a flash of red. He thinks he saw Queen Scarlet or another SkyWing and tries to fight the dragon, but Kinkajou talks to the dragon that turns out to be Exquisite, one of the former RainWing queens (who wasn't very happy about Winter trying to eat one of her sloths). He and the Jade Winglet continue into the forest, and Moon reunites with her mother. As she does, Deathbringer tries to arrest him, pinning him onto the ground, mistaking him for Icicle. He is released later and him and the Winglet are placed in the dragonet hatchery. Winter and the Winglet escape by Kinkajou distracting the dragonets, and freezing one of the holes in the wall. They start searching in the NightWing tunnel, leading to the old Night Kingdom. They find Icicle there, and see that she kept herself awake for days and is badly injured from the lava, burning herself to stay awake. She tries to kill Kinkajou, but Glory catches Icicle with a tranquilizer and brings her to the RainWing healers. Before Icicle passes out, Winter tells her to get proof that Hailstorm is alive from Scarlet's dreamvisitor, and he will kill Glory himself. Moon finds out what he said to her, but trusts him that he wouldn't actually do it. She also gets a clue of where Scarlet may have been and they start searching by asking the Talons of Peace. While they travel, Winter is attacked by Squid who is "practicing stealth". He is scolded by Riptide and Moon shows a drawing of the place where Scarlet may have been. Riptide leads them to two SkyWings, Avalanche and a very shy, strange dragon with the Talons of Peace called Pyrite, a skywing dragoness that is a strange bright orange color. Pyrite leads them to the place where Scarlet may have been, and Winter and the others start to search for Hailstorm. When it becomes night, Winter finds Ex-Queen Scarlet in his dream. He takes off the skyfire and demands Moon to make him wake up, all while being asleep. When Moon does, they find out that Scarlet had seen them. Moon, Qibli, and Winter start searching for her while Kinkajou and Pyrite stayed behind. They find Scarlet, learning that Pyrite had to do something with Hailstorm. Before they went back to Pyrite, they see that Scarlet's companion is a NightWing. Once they get back, Kinkajou is attacked by Scarlet's companion. She is mortally injured. Winter corners Pyrite, who claims she knows nothing of Hailstorm. Winter rips off her necklace, revealing that Hailstorm was under the mask. The dragonets travel to Possibility to get a doctor for Kinkajou. They attract some attention, such as Hailstorm running off. He still had the mind of Pyrite and recognizes a SkyWing who gets angry at him. A SandWing named Meerkat resolves the problem, and takes them to a doctor named Mayfly. As Kinkajou is being treated, Qibli and Winter test out the necklace. He tell Qibli to take it off after two minutes or less. He gets the mind of Pyrite, but Qibli takes it off, like said. Winter clears out his thoughts, revealing that he does like Moon. Winter decides to take Hailstorm back to the Kingdom of Ice, and return. His friends feel that he is not coming back, but said they would wait 4 days at possibility. As they go to the Ice Kingdom, Hailstorm starts to remember his old self after seeing the Great Ice Cliff, an animus enchanted structure that kills any dragon that isn't an IceWing. But few dragons manage to get through at some points. They enter the Kingdom, and Winter's parents are waiting for him. They take Hailstorm to ask his side of the story, and Winter is placed in the First Circle for rescuing Hailstorm, however, Hailstorm is placed in the Seventh Circle for getting captured in the first place. He was chosen between the Diamond Trial or exile, but he didn't want to be exiled after coming back home, so he chooses the Diamond Trial. Winter and Hailstorm compete, and their objective is to find the Frozen Dragon in the cave, and kill it. They are given powerful animus spears, and enter. As they enter the cave, the two dragons see many frozen dragons in the cave, which are the ones who have lost the trial. But there is one dragon they recognize to be THE frozen dragon. Winter brings it back to life with the spear, as she introduce's herself as Foeslayer, the mother of Darkstalker. Winter goes and tells Hailstorm to kill her, letting him lose. Hailstorm reluctantly does so, and Winter notices he isn't dead. Hailstorm reveals that the IceWings already choose who wins, and they secretly tell the winner that after they kill Foeslayer, they have to kill the other dragon as well. And their father chose Hailstorm to win. Winter tells Hailstorm to escape without killing him, and Winter is presumed dead to the IceWings. He also decides to bring Foeslayer back to life again and free her. Winter decides at the end to stay loyal to his friends and come back for them while freeing her. ''Escaping Peril He is seen briefly while returning to Possibility with Foeslayer. He encounters Peril at the edge of town and attacks, thinking she is a spy for Scarlet. Peril tries not to hurt him, but when she tries to get away from Winter, they both collide in mid-air. Winter falls to the ground, burnt and at the brink of death. When Winter is sure he will die, he says, "Moon. Tell Moon-", most likely wanting Peril to tell Moon that he loves her. However, Turtle comes and uses his animus-touched rock to heal Winter's burns. At the end of the book, Winter argues with Qibli over who gets to use the talisman after they had stolen it from Chameleon. After they decide that nobody will use it and they wouldn't return it to Darkstalker, in the morning, they discover that Moon fled with the scroll. They catch up to her, and Winter was very worried about her setting him free. After they get the scroll back from Moon, Qibli and Winter fight over who should get it. ''Talons of Power Winter is first shown flying above Darkstalker with Peril. As they begin talking to the massive dragon, he begins to accuse Darkstalker. Though, the animus hybrid "does something" to him, causing him to stop the accusations. He begins to actually say nice things to and about Darkstalker, making Winter's friends worry. Moon tells Darkstalker not to enchant her friends using his animus power, while Winter and Darkstalker reply at the same time that Darkstalker was not, although he most likely was enchanting Winter. Later, Winter is seen outside of Jade Mountain with Moon, Peril, and Qibli. When Turtle confronts the dragonets, saying he doesn't trust Darkstalker, Winter says that Turtle needs to just spend more time with Darkstalker, still obviously enchanted. Beside him, Qibli jokingly states that he would agree, and would trust Darkstalker, if it wasn't Winter who was saying nice things about the 2,000 year old NightWing. Winter leaves soon after. Later, Turtle goes to Winter and Qibli's cave to ask to sleep there. Qibli says yes, but Winter said he wouldn't want any more snoring in his cave. Qibli asks what Darkstalker did, and Turtle tells them both what he did. Qibli said that he wondered why he was doing that, and Winter said he was just trying to make friends and be kind. They have a little argument, part of it being about Winter being enchanted. Winter says Darkstalker saving Stonemover is proof that he's a good dragon with a good heart. Qibli asks how he would know, and Winter snootily leaves. It is assumed that he told Darkstalker about that conversation, as Qibli guessed. Later, it is revealed that there is still a timeline where Winter and Moon get together, so it is evident that Winter still loves Moon. Personality Winter, to the common eye, is brash, cold, short-tempered, and arrogant, most likely because of his parents' disapproval of him. However, underneath he actually hates and criticizes himself more than anyone else, and he appears to have feelings for Moonwatcher, although to hide this, he tries to act arrogant and proud, although he let this act down a few times. He can be a bit snobbish, and believes he should get special privileges for being Queen Glacier's nephew. He is also shown to be very interested in scavengers, and even cares about Bandit, his pet scavenger. One of Winter's more closely guarded secrets is that his family doesn't like him as much as Winter wants others to believe; for example, Icicle described him as "weak" for not hating other dragon tribes. However, Moonwatcher reads his mind and thinks him brave and kind underneath. Winter appears to be the kindest out of his family, as the others are very rude and love to kill, with the exception of Queen Glacier. He is also shown to have compassion, for he leaves a polar bear alone because the animal had cubs, and took interest in a scavenger in a similar situation,saying it seemed to look the same ways at the polar bears as he did. Even though this choice ended with his punishment, he went through with leaving it alone anyway. He is also very interested in scavengers, saying if he were an animus, he would give the gift of observing them. In Talons of Power, he seems to have been enchanted by Darkstalker, changing his personality whenever somebody talks about Darkstalker around him, and making him more open. Appearance He has blue eyes as dark as a frozen ocean, scales pale-blue like ice, and silver claws. He has been described as incredibly handsome and beautiful by other dragons, and 'shiny and sparkly' by some RainWings such as Kinkajou and several hatchlings. Relationships Moonwatcher He first met Moon when she found his scavenger, Bandit, after he'd escaped. He immediately demanded his scavenger back and said he would slice her face off if she didn't give him back Bandit. She eventually gave Bandit back after a long argument. Winter, at first seems to not completely understand Moon. He sometimes would thinks she's kind and friendly and admires her silver teardrop shaped scales at the corner of her eyes, but most of the time he thinks she's "like all NightWings", meaning being mysterious and untrustworthy. Winter seemed to have strong feelings for her but he hid it well, trying to cover this thoughts with thoughts his parents would approve. Later on in ''Winter Turning, he admits multiple times that he's in love with Moon and he shouldn't be since she's a Nightwing. However, by the end of Winter Turning, he no longer cares what anyone thinks and freely admits to himself he's in love with Moon, and would choose her over the Ice Kingdom and any IceWing any day. Towards Escaping Peril, Winter is still constantly arguing with her. But his feelings for her are still kept secret. This was shown when Peril burned him badly, towards the point where he would die. It is assumed he tried to tell Peril to tell Moon that he loved her. Later, it is assumed that Winter and Moonwatcher are still fighting because Qibli said "You were really mean to Moon and still haven't apologized." When Winter says Darkstalker has a horrible power (mind reading, precognition), Moon says "You mean my horrible power?" However, Winter still loves Moon because in his response to Qibli's statement; Winter was noted to have an "oddly heartbroken expression". Qibli He is Winter's clawmate and friend. He also seems to have a crush on Moon. When Winter was hassling Moon about Bandit he stepped in and tried to help the situation. He was there by Winter's side most of the time in the books and was there to make sure he didn't hurt anybody (especially Moon). He becomes increasingly close to both Winter and Moon, and keeps naming himself as Winter's best friend, although Winter denies having any relationship with him. He continues to tease Winter and brings out his better side and their friendship does grow. He also knows how to make Winter NOT give up by pairing him up with Moon and giving him reality checks. Kinkajou Kinkajou is Winter's friend. As of Moon Rising, Kinkajou has a crush on Winter. Kinkajou admires his "sparkly scales", but he doesn't seem to notice. In Winter Turning, she showed multiple acts of kindness, none of which he seemed to care. After the attack from Chameleon, when the dragonets take Kinkajou Possibility, Meerkat states that the doctor in the town was a MudWing. When Winter hears that, he recalls how other Tribes say that MudWings would be too dumb to be doctors, and briefly wonders whether Possibility would be the right place to bring Kinkajou. When Kinkajou falls into a coma, he peeks inside the hospital window, only to be rejected by Mayfly. In the end of Winter Turning, he promises that he will come back to Moon, Qibli, and Kinkajou. Icicle Icicle is Winter and Hailstorm's sister and the niece of Queen Glacier. She was always around him and other IceWings in school. When Winter found his sister trying to kill Starflight he tried to stop her and refused to help her when she asked him to kill the other dragonets of destiny even when finding out about Hailstorm. He was called weak and worthless by Icicle multiple times in the book, though this could be because she blames Winter for what happened to Hailstorm in the first place. Hailstorm He is Winter and Icicle's brother. He was captured by Queen Scarlet and the SkyWings. Winter is constantly beating himself up about how he couldn't save him from being taken and hated the NightWings ever since they killed all the trapped IceWing prisoners in the SkyWing Arena, thinking one was his brother. He was called not being as smart or brave as Hailstorm by Icicle multiple times. Hailstorm often feels sorry for Winter, seen in the prologue of Winter Turning. In the book, it is revealed he was put under an animus enchantment and transformed into a female SkyWing named Pyrite. He fully recovers once he's back in the Ice Kingdom. Later, when it is revealed Hailstorm was to kill Winter to recover his rank in first place, he admits he does not want to kill Winter, because he cares for his brother. Winter suggests he'd wait until nightfall, and then he will sneak out of the Ice Kingdom. Hailstorm accepts, thanks Winter, and exits the maze so that it will only appear that he killed Winter. Narwhal and Tundra Narwhal and Tundra are Winter's parents. They are very harsh to him and dislike his skills. He's often compared to that of his brother, Prince Hailstorm and his sister, Princess Icicle. Narwhal is shown to be angry whenever Winter fails to obey his orders. Winter feels like he always disappoints his parents and in Winter Turning, is shown to be correct. They despise him so much they are willing to sacrifice his life to get Hailstorm back to the First Circle. Narwhal also states that he never expected to see Hailstorm again, and never wanted to see Winter again, after Winter saves Hailstorm. Queen Glacier Winter seems to greatly respect Glacier, stating many times she's a great Queen. When Winter sees Glacier in Winter Turning, ''on their way to the Diamond Trial, Queen Glacier has a polite conversation to Winter about Icicle and Queen Glory. She even appears to be sympathetic to Winter before the Diamond Trial. Lynx Winter seemed to have liked Lynx before going to Jade Mountain, when he returned to the Ice Kingdom he saw her several times. Winter mentioned that he had always thought her different coloured scales were pretty before he met Moon. Family Tree Quotes ''"You have ten seconds to give me back my scavenger before I slice your face off." -'' When Moonwatcher and Winter first meet in the begining of ''Moon Rising "Moon what? Come on, NightWing. We know your names are all lies. So what's yours? Moondestroyer? Mooneater? Mooncrusher?" ''- To Moonwatcher when when they first meet in ''Moon Rising "I only mentioned it because it seems entirely obvious to me that the niece and nephew of the IceWing queen should each be given a private cave, so I wanted you to know we wouldn't have to be clawmates for very long, as there has clearly been some kind of mistake." - to Qibli, about Winter saying he is Queen Glacier's nephew. "She thinks it's funny, but if she knew what I've been feeling- who I've been thinking about..." -'' (thought) about Icicle because of her amusement at Kinkajou's crush on Winter. ''"Stop liking her. Remember what Father said: They're all liars. Be strong, be vigilant, strike first. Trust nobody. Not even interesting NightWings with silver teardrop scales." - ''Winter thinking about Moon in ''Moon Rising '' ''"By all the snow monsters! What are you doing here?" ''- To Moonwatcher and the others at the end of ''Moon Rising '' ''"I don't want them to come with me. In fact, if you could stick this SandWing in some quicksand while I get away from him, I will personally bring you a walrus to express my gratitude." - Winter about Qibli to Queen Glory "He's an IceWing named Hailstorm. A couple of years older than me. The bravest dragon in Pyrrhia. Scarlet's prisoner for the last two years. You know where he is!" - to Pyrite "I would have ripped off your tail and beaten you with it first." - Winter to Squid "Terribly unimpressive. I haven't once said 'higgledgy-piggledgy' in my entire life. We would never allow such linguistic imprecision in the Ice Kingdom." - ''in response to some of Qibli's mocking The look that said, ''If only we'd lost you instead of Hailstorm. If only you were everything an IceWing should be. ''- To himself in ''Winter Turning "No. Not with more killing." - To Icicle "It's not what I want; it's how things have to be. We can never be what I wanted us to be" - in Winter Turning WE are doing no such thing, I am going to find him. JUST ME." ''- To Queen Glory and the others in ''Winter Turning '' ''"I never liked you anyway! And I'm going to MURDER this NIGHTWING!" - To Kinkajou about Deathbringer "I listen, when there is something worth hearing." "Because happiness isn't where I am... it's who I'm with." "Moon, tell Moon–" - To Peril when she burned him. "Imagine what our Kingdom would be like if we still had animus dragons. What else would we have invented?" - To Foeslayer after the Diamond Trial. "Sometimes I'm only sure of one thing, that I hope I never hurt you." - To Moonwatcher Trivia * In the Scholastic forums, Tui wrote, "OK, dragging myself away to work now . . . there’s an IceWing in GREAT TURMOIL who kind of needs a hug . . ." * If Winter were an animus, he said that he'd create enchanted dens so that scavengers could survive in the freezing cold as well as have a safe place for them to live, so he could observe them more closely. * Winter is the second dragon to have been shown with a pet scavenger, the first being Smolder. *Winter was most likely enchanted by Darkstalker in Talons of Power as shown in chapter 1. *He had a scavenger named Bandit, which he released in Winter Turning. *Winter "rescued" Darkstalker's mother Foeslayer, who then dissapears. *Winter always blamed himself for Hailstorm's capture, showing more of his self-blame *Darkstalker is one of Winter's and the rest of the royal Icewing family's ancestor due to the fact Darkstalker is the son of their other ancestor Prince Arctic. 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